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Luca Harrington has claimed New Zealand’s second medal of the Milano Cortina Games. In a nail-biting Olympic final that came down to the very last run, Harrington delivered a spectacular clutch performance under immense pressure to claim bronze in Freeski Slopestyle.
Lining up for the final, Ben Barclay and Harrington each had three attempts to post their best score. To reach the podium, they needed to put down a flawless top-to-bottom run that balanced execution, technical difficulty and variety across the technical rail section at the top of the course and the three jumps at the bottom.
Harrington came out swinging on run one, putting together a stylish rail section, but couldn’t stick the landing on his triple cork 1620 on jump two.
Across the field, nerves were clearly in play, with several top athletes making uncharacteristic mistakes. Barclay, the sixth rider to drop, became the first athlete of the final to land a complete run, scoring 69.40 to settle the early tension.
Run two proved tough for both Kiwis, both posting throwaway scores, with Barclay coming off a rail early on, and the landing on the 1620 once again getting away from Harrington. Going into the third and final run, Barclay would be sitting in fifth place and Harrington in ninth with everything still to play for.
Laying it all on the line, Harrington once again opted for a big and bold rail section before setting up for his final attack on the jump line. With the 1800 on lock, he headed into the second jump, this time stomping his landing on the triple cork 1620 and finishing off with a clean 1440 on the third and last jump.
The judges answered with a score of 85.15, propelling Harrington into the bronze medal position. With more than half the field still to drop, the 21-year-old Kiwi faced an agonising wait in the finish corral.
Barclay dropped in for his third run but once again, came off a rail too early and would finish eighth overall. As the rest of the field took their final runs, Harrington’s score continued to hold and would end up being the highest of that round. As the final competitor slid into the finish, the realisation hit that Harrington had claimed an Olympic bronze medal.
“Today was a battle, and it was a battle for all of us," explained Harrington. "We didn’t get perfect conditions, but that’s part of our sport. I was feeling a lot of pressure, a lot of crazy emotions going on being here at the Olympics, being in the finals and wanting to do everyone proud. Putting something down that you’re proud of was hard. I did not land my first two runs, which made that even tougher, but on that final run, I took a step back and kind of embraced the moment and managed to gain that confidence and managed to go through my full run clean.
"Standing at the top, representing New Zealand, representing my family, wearing an Olympic bib in the finals, that was such a special moment. I think that’s what motivated me to really embrace that and land that last run. To get rewarded with a haka from my team was such an honour."
Barclay said he’d been hoping to put down cleaner runs based on the tricks he’d trained for, but was happy enough with the outcome. However, he was “over the moon to see Luca Harrington on the steps at the end." He continued:
“To get a front row seat the last few years to the amount of hard work, dedication and sacrifice that Luca and his coach Hamish MacDougall have both put in with the sole goal of this, to see it pay off for them – I can’t even describe how that feels. They worked so hard, put so much blood, sweat and tears and true mahi into it. He really clutched up in the end and he got it. I genuinely don’t think anyone deserves it more.”
Men’s Freeski Slopestyle medals:
Gold: Birk Ruud (NOR)
Silver: Alex Hall (USA)
Bronze: Luca Harrington (NZL)